The Fauna of Greece and Adjacent Areas in the Age of Homer: Evidence from the First Written Documents of Greek Literature

Journal of Biogeography (J. Biogeogr.) (2005) 32, 1875-1882 ORIGINAL The fauna of Greece and adjacent areas ARTICLE in the Age of Homer: evidence from the first written documents of Greek literature Eleni Voultsiadou* and Apostolos Tatolas Department of Zoology, School of Biology, A b str a c t Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, A im To study the composition of fauna in Greece and adjacent areas around 1 hessalomkt, Greece ' r ’ 3000 years ago based on the knowledge of Homeric man about the animal kin g d o m . L o c a tio n Greece and adjacent areas. M e th o d Analysis of information derived from a thorough study of the first written documents of Greek literature, the epics, attributed to Homer and H esiod. R e su lts Records of 2442 animals were found, corresponding to 71 different animal names. All animal names were attributed to recent taxa, at different category levels; the majority (65%) were assigned to taxa at the species level and the rest to supraspecific taxa. Most of the animal names recorded in the epics have been retained as integral words or roots in Modern Greek and they have been used in the formation of the Latin scientific taxa names. Five animal phyla appear in the texts: (1) Chordata (mostly birds and mammals), (2) Arthropoda, (3) Mollusca, (4) Porifera, and (5) Annelida. Information in the epics also includes morphology, biology, ecology (habitat and prey-predator relationships), and behaviour. The presence of several species in the area in that period is documented on the basis of archaeological and/or palaeontological findings from various Greek localities. Main conclusions The knowledge of Homeric man about animals, as reflected in the epics, seems to concentrate mainly, but not exclusively, on animals involved in human activities. The populations of some common animal species of the Homeric Age in Greek populated areas have become extinct or reduced at the present time. On the other hand, some common animals of the present time do not appear in the epics, since they were introduced later. Useful zoological information can be derived from the study of classical texts, which may help historical biogeographers as a supplement to archaeology and art, in the reconstruction of faunas of older periods. ^Correspondence: Eleni Voultsiadou, Department of Zoology, School of Biology, K e y w o r d s Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR54124, Thessaloniki, Greece. Age of Homer, animal distribution, animals in antiquity, extinction, geometric E-mail: [email protected] period, Greece, historical zoogeography. studied osteological material found in Greek archaeological INTRODUCTION sites during excavation. Based on these findings, they have Scientists have searched for palaeo-faunistic and palaeo- drawn interesting conclusions concerning the relationships environmental evidence in their attempt to gain an under between man and animals in previous epochs, such as the standing of animal life and the environment in the past and for Pleistocene ( Jarman, 1996) or the early historical periods such evidence of human intervention and subsequent impact on as the geometric period (Tsoukala & Hatzi-Valianou, 1996; regional faunas. Palaeontologists and archaeologists have Wilkens, 1996). Another angle of approach has been through © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd www.blackwellpubllshlng.com/jbl dol:10.1111/j.1 365-2699.2005.01 335.x 1875 E. Voultsiadou and A. Tatolas the study of art. Iconographical sources have commonly given given in the texts. Wherever possible, this was supported by zoologists useful evidence. For instance, various authors have available archaeological or palaeontological evidence. All the tried to recognize and record the animals depicted in Minoan above data were evaluated by employing a variety of zoological wall paintings, vases or figurines (Vanschoonwinkel, 1996). books and papers (Nowak, 1991; Handrinos & Akriotis, 1997), In addition to archaeology and art, useful information can as well as encyclopaedias and general or specialized lexicons be derived from written documents from early civilizations. (Encyclopedia Papyros Larousse Britannica; Liddell and Scott: The Age of Homer is a critical moment in Greek history. It is Great dictionary of the Greek language; Kofiniotis: Homeric the late geometric period, covering the eighth and seventh Lexicon). The works of Aristotle (i.e.History of animals) were centuries b c . During this period the Greek alphabet was also consulted. In addition to this material, various specialists developed and the first written documents of Greek literature, in different taxonomic groups were consulted. the epics, appeared in two main forms: the heroic epic Care was taken to be as accurate as possible when attributing represented by Homer and the didactic epic represented by classical names to modern taxa. As a result, in various cases for Hesiod. The epics, in spite of being questionable as historical which no clear evidence existed in the texts, we preferred to documents, constitute a useful source for historians and suggest a higher taxon instead of a specific species or genus. archaeologists in their attempt to understand early historic The fact that a classical name has been retained in Modern community culture. The ‘Homeric community reflects three Greek was not in itself sufficient to identify a species, as shown different time periods (Latacz, 1997; Mazarakis Ainian, 2000): through the examples given below. We should however, stress (1) prehistoric (mostly Mycenaean), (2) intermediate (corres the continuity of Greek language from the Homeric poems up ponding to the dark ages, covering the eleventh to ninth to the present, pointed out by various authors (Browning, centuries b c ) , and (3) the eighth century b c (the period in 1983; Babiniotis, 2000; Doukas, 2000). It is remarkable that the which Homer lived). The latter two form the so-called majority of the Homeric words are used in the same way and ‘geometric period’. A fourth layer, which is mythical, appears many of them with the same meaning in Modern Greek. to be an invention of the poet’s imagination. Additionally, etymology proves in several cases to be critical in Langdon (1993) considered that the dynamic relationship recognizing animals. Some examples are: Kuvopaïcrcriç between art and poetry signalled both the climax and the end (k ú c o v = dog + pafrn = destroy), „piovoç („pi = half + of the Age of Homer. The presence of animals is conspicuous voç = donkey), TtàpSakiç (TtapSakôç = spotted), noXvnovç in both the art and the epics of this late geometric period. (noXóc, — m any + Ttoùç = leg). These first written documents of Greek language contain Detailed justification was not considered necessary for the valuable information on the relationship of Homeric man with names of well-known domestic animals such as the horse, cow, animals. Furthermore, the results of their study should help goat, sheep, donkey, pig, as well as the lion, wolf, honeybee, zoologists and historical zoogeographers reconstruct the fauna brown bear or the monk seal. However, in some cases the of this age. This paper presents an annotated list of all animals recent scientific name of an animal was not so clearly evident, appearing in the epics, makes an attempt to assign the classical or the authors had to decide among several closely related animal names to recent taxa and gives a comparison of fauna species. Several examples are given below showing how the illustrated in the texts of that age to present fauna. identification of some animals was traced through various clues given in the texts. The name „piovoç Í j q ó x e q o c, (Iliad, 11.852) was attributed CLASSICAL NAMES AND RECENT T A X A to the species Equus onager (wild mule) due to the adjective As mentioned above, an attempt was initially made to record ÎygÔTSQoç (wild) and the information about its area of origin, all animals appearing in the texts of the Age of Homer and to somewhere in northern Asia Minor. The known distribution of correlate them to recent taxa. To achieve this goal, according this species covers the area around the Caucasus, the Black Sea, to the historical documentation of Greek classical literature of Anatolia and Iran, although its populations are very restricted that period (Lesky, 1971; Easterling & Knox, 1985), the nowadays due to hunting and habitat destruction. This animal following texts were studied Iliad (I) and Odyssey (O) by was distinguished from „piovoç (mule) which was frequently H om er, Theogony (T), Works and Days (D), Aspis (A) and reported in the epics and was recognized as the hybrid of Equus Catalogue of Women (C) by Hesiod, and the Homeric Hymns asinus and Equus caballus. The animal called qcûSioç (heron) (H) written after Homer’s death. The standard editions of (Iliad, XI.274) was identified as the night heron, Nycticorax Oxford classical texts were used together with valid translations nycticorax since it is reported to appear during the night. Muía in Modern Greek, such as those by Doukas (2000), Lecatsas (fly) was recognized as a species of the family Calliphoridae (1941, Zacharopoulos Press, Athens), and Papaditsas and according to the fact that it lays its eggs on wounds or decaying Ladia (1997, Estia Bookstore Press, Athens). First, all lines were bodies. A p f iypfq was attributed to the wild goat, Capra checked for animal records. The correlation of animal names aegagrus as a result of the description of its habitat (Odyssey, to recent taxa was made possible by combining the informa IX.l 18-124) and the length of its horns (Iliad, IV.105). The tion embodied in animal names (most of which have been name Sskcjfiç (dolphin) most possibly corresponds to the most retained in Modern Greek) with morphological descriptions common dolphin species Tursiops truncatus because of its and/or information on the ecology, biology, and behaviour silver colour and the fact that it appears in schools very near 1876 Journal of Biogeography 32, 1875-1882, © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Greek fauna in the Age of Homer the coast (Aspis, 207-212; Iliad XX.122).

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